The present invention relates to a ballet toe shoe and to a process for manufacturing same, and particularly to a ballet toe shoe having a toe box of sufficient strength for a ballet dancer to dance on her toes.
A ballet toe shoe is a shoe generally comprising a soft upper which wraps around the dancer's foot, a stiff shank on which the dancer's foot rests and which extends from the toes past the sole back to the heel, possibly an outer sole beneath the shank and a stiff toe box at the front of the upper terminating at a substantially rigid panel at the front of the toe shoe. Fabrication of a ballet toe shoe typically requires the manual labor of a skilled craftsman who also must have considerable strength, as explained below. The labor and training costs for skilled craftsman are obviously quite high. Furthermore, the manufacture of a ballet toe shoe having the various stiffness characteristics mentioned above has previously required many steps, as described below. A ballet toe shoe which is simpler to fabricate and which would not require skilled craftsmen yet would have the characteristics described and a process of more simply manufacturing such a ballet toe shoe would provide a significant improvement in this art.
A summary review of the procedures now followed in manufacturing a ballet toe shoe adapted for toe dancing will demonstrate the craftsman's skills now necessary in fabricating the toe shoe.
The ballet dancer's toe shoe typically has a decorative exterior appearance, e.g. it is of satin material on the outside. The material of the upper of the toe shoe is produced as a three layer arrangement, with the outer layer being the satin layer and the inner layers being fabric, e.g. cotton stiffening layers. The three layer material is in a somewhat curled up condition, shaped for eventually defining the upper.
The material is laid down, outer decorative layer up, and the two top layers are lifted or peeled back leaving the bottom layer. Cement adhesive is applied to the bottom layer. Then a thin, gauze-like layer of material, sized and shaped to cover the toe box of the toe shoe is applied on the bottom layer. Next, a felt material piece, sized about the size of the tip of the toe shoe on which the ballerina toe dances, is adhered on the gauze layer where the front tip of the toe shoe will be. Thereafter, another gauze layer, of the size of the first gauze layer, is adhered over the felt layer and the first gauze layer. These layers rigidify the toe box when the adhesive cures.
One of the results of manually laminating individual sheets of stiffening layers in the upper of the toe shoe is that the desired stiffness characteristics of the upper, moving forward over the toe box and terminating at the stiff tip at the front of the toe box, can be obtained by these layers laid down in the toe box, while no additional layers are applied in the material of the ballet toe shoe upper away from the toe box.
Next, the peeled back intermediate layer of the upper is laid down and cemented in place over the additional layers. Finally, the outer layer is laid down and cemented in place. The material for the upper is somewhat curved up ready to be applied to a shoe last. The outer decorative layer of the material is on the inside, for now, rather than on the outside.
An outer sole for the ballet toe shoe is placed on a shoe last and is temporarily attached to the last, e.g. by stapling. The above described cemented together layered upper in the somewhat curved up, outer layer on the inside, condition, is pulled over the last, with the outer layer facing in to the last. The material is pulled over the last until it meets the outer sole which is sitting on the last, and when the upper has been shaped around the last, it is attached to the sole. The material is appropriately pleated at the front of the toe shoe and a cord on the material is pulled tight and tied so that the edge of the material is drawn in around the last to meet the front of the sole. The toe shoe is readied for stitching by trimming off excess material. The toe shoe is stitched on a stitching machine. Excess material past the stitching is trimmed off. The temporary tacking of the sole to the last is removed and the toe shoe is removed from the last by being peeled off back to front. This turns the toe shoe inside out so that the outer layer of the upper is now on the outside and the sole is on the outside. The toe shoe is again placed on the last, and because the toe shoe is so tightly fitted to the last, it must be shoe-horned onto the last. The final shaping of the still soft toe box over the last can now be done, by tapping and by smoothing rubbing strokes, because the adhesive on the layers of the material at the toe box has not yet cured. Once the soft toe box has been shaped, the toe shoe is again removed from the last.
A toe shoe shank has cement applied to it and is inserted into the toe shoe and laid on and cemented to the sole. The toe shoe is yet again shoe-horned onto the last for a final touch-up and shaping of the toe box. After some hours, the adhesive at the toe box is finally cured and the toe shoe can be removed from the last. The underside of the front end of the shank has a thickened section to fill in the area of the vicinity of the pleats at the front of the toe shoe.
The foregoing procedure for making a toe shoe requires four significant pulling or stretching steps, namely first placing the laminated fabric material for the upper on the last and bringing the material to the sole for attachment, pulling the upper off the last while at the same time reversing the toe shoe inside out after the upper has been attached to the sole, applying the upper on the last for initial shaping, removing it from the last, and applying it yet another time to the last for further shaping of the toe box. A strong skilled craftsman is usually needed. Considerable time is used. Failure to exert proper and sufficient pull during any step will ruin the entire shoe.
There was an experiment in the prior art to produce a ballet toe shoe using a different technique. A one-piece resin material molding was made to define both the shank and the frame or form for the toe box of the toe shoe. Thereafter, the fabric upper was simply shaped over the preformed toe box and attached on the shank to produce a completed toe shoe. The number of steps in manufacture of a ballet toe shoe were thereby drastically reduced. However, this technique had a number of drawbacks. A ballet toe shoe is "broken in" and becomes comfortable to the wearer because when leather or a leather like product is used for the shank, the shank tends to mold itself to the wearer's foot during repeated wearings, making the toe shoe more comfortable over time. The resin or plastic molding shank of this prior ballet toe shoe typically had resilient "memory" and would return to its original shape when deformed, so that the shank could not permanently adapt to and conform to the wearer's foot and would not become comfortable.